• The Undertaking Café Center East 2025 report forecasts that the entire Saudi Arabian branded espresso store market will exceed 5,350 retailers by 2027.
• Occasions just like the Worldwide Espresso and Chocolate Exhibition, the most important of its form within the Center East, are contributing to the expansion of the espresso and chocolate sector in Saudi Arabia and the Center East. Operating from 2 to six December 2025, the occasion will host workshops, competitions, and the Center East Espresso Convention.
• Native manufacturers are experiencing explosive progress by way of fast growth, whereas worldwide corporations are recognising the worth of coming into the Saudi Arabian espresso market.
• The nation is positioning itself not solely as one of many world’s main coffee-consuming nations however as an rising origin, a hub for regional espresso commerce, and a centre of innovation.

Saudi Arabia’s espresso panorama is experiencing a outstanding transformation. As soon as dominated by conventional Saudi espresso served in gatherings, the Kingdom is now house to 1000’s of specialty cafés and roasters.

This explosive progress displays broader financial shifts beneath Imaginative and prescient 2030, positioning espresso as each a cultural cornerstone and a business alternative in one of many world’s fastest-developing markets.

I spoke to Kamal Mohammed Al-Rawhani at Black Knight Firm to learn the way the Saudi Arabian espresso market may proceed to evolve. He explains how occasions just like the Worldwide Espresso and Chocolate Exhibition, the most important of its form within the Center East, are supporting the expansion of the Saudi Arabian and Center Japanese espresso and chocolate markets.

You might also like our article on whether or not espresso outlets have gotten new social hubs in Saudi Arabia.

Specialty espresso within the Center East

The Center East’s specialty espresso market is flourishing, with Saudi Arabia rising because the regional powerhouse driving a lot of this progress.

Information from Undertaking Café Center East 2025 discovered that Saudi Arabia is the most important branded espresso store market within the Center East, reaching 5,130 retailers and accounting for 46% of all shops within the area. Its fast progress is outpacing many established markets, signalling the Kingdom’s ascent as a significant participant in world espresso consumption and tradition.

Occasions are enjoying an important function in supporting the explosive progress of the Saudi Arabian espresso market.

The eleventh version of the Worldwide Espresso and Chocolate Exhibition, which can run from 2 to six December 2025 on the Riyadh Entrance Exhibition & Conference Centre, will host over 300 native and worldwide manufacturers from greater than 40 nations. These embody roasters, café homeowners, inexperienced espresso importers and exporters, chocolatiers, tools producers, packaging suppliers, and extra.

Anticipated to draw over 250,000 guests throughout all 5 days, the occasion serves as a platform for data change, product discovery, and enterprise growth alternatives, each within the dynamic Saudi Arabian espresso market and throughout the Center East. The exhibition will host workshops, panels, competitions, tastings, and the Center East Espresso Convention.

“The market has witnessed clear and tangible progress over the previous decade, each within the unfold of cafés and the rise of roasteries,” says Kamal, the CEO of Black Knight Firm, a specialty espresso roaster in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “We are able to additionally see a major growth within the house barista sector, which has grow to be a robust and promising indicator of the general progress of the espresso market within the Kingdom.”

This sturdy growth is fuelled by youthful demographics longing for up to date social areas. Greater than 60% of the inhabitants is beneath 30, and they’re looking for venues that mix performance with ambiance for socialising, finding out, and dealing.

Saudi Arabia’s heritage of conventional espresso consumption additionally helps the market’s progress. Espresso holds profound cultural significance in Saudi Arabia, the place it represents hospitality, respect, and social connection. UNESCO recognised this cultural significance by including qahwa to its listing of intangible cultural heritage. 

This historic basis offers a pure springboard for the specialty espresso motion, as customers already possess subtle palates and a deep appreciation for high quality and ritual of their espresso experiences.

Saudi Arabia emerges as a espresso origin

Complementing that is the Kingdom’s rising function as a espresso producer. Whereas at the moment modest, home manufacturing is growing as a part of Imaginative and prescient 2030’s financial diversification technique. 

Saudi Arabia produces high-quality arabica within the mountainous southern areas of Jazan, Asir, and Al-Baha, the place roughly 400,000 espresso bushes are able to producing as much as 800 tonnes yearly. 

The federal government has initiated bold plans to plant 1.2 million extra espresso bushes by 2026, with longer-term objectives to extend nationwide manufacturing capability from 300 tonnes to 2,500 tonnes per 12 months by way of strategic investments totalling almost SAR 1.2 billion over the following decade.

In Might 2022, Saudi Arabia’s Public Funding Fund launched the Saudi Espresso Firm with a US$319 million funding over ten years to help business progress – from cultivation and processing to roasting, advertising and marketing, and export. 

The corporate has established mannequin farms in Jazan designed to set world requirements, develop 5 million espresso bushes by 2030, and supply templates for optimising water utilization in keeping with sustainability objectives. 

These initiatives place Saudi Arabia not merely as a client market however as an rising origin with aspirations to attain world recognition for its distinctive espresso heritage.

“One of many key factors we hope to focus on is how we are able to elevate the standard of espresso from farm to cup, making certain that the buyer’s palate turns into extra refined and appreciative of excessive requirements,” Kamal says.

How the Saudi Arabian espresso market is diversifying

As each homegrown and worldwide manufacturers capitalise on surging demand, Saudi Arabia is evolving right into a dynamic, aggressive specialty espresso market.

Native manufacturers are experiencing explosive progress by way of fast growth methods and complex social media advertising and marketing. Half Million, which launched in 2018, now operates 56 shops throughout greater than 14 cities all through Saudi Arabia and has even expanded internationally with a flagship location on London’s Oxford Avenue. 

Barn’s Café represents one other success story, having grown from round 130 retailers in 2018 to over 800 right now, making it the most important espresso chain within the Kingdom and second solely to Dunkin’ within the broader Center East.

Worldwide manufacturers have concurrently recognised the huge potential of the Saudi market and are increasing their footprints accordingly. 

Starbucks, working beneath a licensing settlement with Kuwait’s Alshaya Group since 1999, now maintains roughly 400 shops throughout the Kingdom and continues to open new retailers in key cities like Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam. Tim Hortons, Dunkin’, and different world chains have additionally established robust footholds, with Dunkin’ remaining the second-largest chain available in the market after Barn’s. In 2022, the corporate opened 30 retailers throughout the nation in a single day.

Specialty worldwide gamers like %Arabica have introduced third wave espresso tradition to Saudi customers, introducing single origin choices, different brewing strategies, and minimalist café aesthetics. These worldwide entrants introduce world flavours whereas concurrently studying to adapt their choices to native preferences, creating menu objects that resonate with Saudi tastes and cultural expectations.

Supporting fast progress

Occasions just like the Worldwide Espresso and Chocolate Exhibition are enjoying an important function in supporting market progress by bringing collectively stakeholders from throughout the business.

“The exhibition serves as a large gateway for the espresso business and an open house the place customers, purchasers, fans, and consultants can join,” Kamal says. “It permits significant change of ideas, improvements, and the whole lot new on the planet of espresso.”

Operating from 2 to six December 2025 on the Riyadh Entrance Exhibition & Conference Centre, the occasion facilitates connections between roasters, chocolatiers, tools suppliers, distributors, and café operators, enabling individuals to discover the most recent traits in espresso and chocolate, forge strategic partnerships, and achieve visibility within the quickly increasing market. 

Divided into distinct zones for espresso, chocolate, and mixed pairings, the exhibition will host roasting demonstrations, reside chocolate sculpting, interactive tasting classes, panels, lectures, and workshops led by business consultants. 

The occasion additionally serves as each a market and assembly floor, the place homegrown Saudi manufacturers can community with worldwide suppliers and world corporations can higher perceive the nuances of the Kingdom’s distinctive espresso tradition and client preferences.

What’s in retailer for the longer term?

The Saudi Arabian specialty espresso market stands at an inflexion level, with a number of converging traits suggesting sustained progress and continued evolution by way of 2026 and past, notably as home espresso manufacturing scales up and client preferences grow to be more and more subtle.

Youthful generations are rising as the first engine driving market growth. Cafés have grow to be areas for finding out, working remotely, and assembly buddies, transcending simply espresso consumption. 

This era demonstrates willingness to pay premium costs for high quality experiences, seeks venues with robust aesthetic enchantment, and values manufacturers that align with their aspirational identities. Their preferences are reshaping what cafés provide, from menus to inside design to digital integration by way of cellular ordering and loyalty programmes.

“The sector is predicted to proceed its robust progress, as earlier years have proven a constant upward pattern,” Kamal says. “Saudi Arabia stays probably the most dynamic and increasing espresso industries, providing room for operators, researchers, and innovators to ship distinctive and differentiated outputs. 

“Though the product is ‘espresso’, the potential for improvement is huge and open to everybody,” he provides.

Exclusivity and rarity will more and more drive the market as customers develop extra refined palates and search differentiation. Excessive-end specialty espresso choices are gaining outstanding traction, with customers keen to pay premiums for distinctive competitors and public sale coffees.

The expansion of Saudi Arabia’s home espresso manufacturing provides one other dimension to this sophistication. As farms improve their output and high quality by way of government-supported initiatives, domestically grown Saudi espresso will seemingly grow to be some extent of nationwide pleasure and a singular providing within the world specialty espresso market.

Whereas worldwide curiosity stays robust, with main world manufacturers persevering with to put money into growth and international corporations recognising the Kingdom’s financial potential, homegrown manufacturers are more likely to keep their aggressive edge and drive a lot of the market’s future progress.

Native operators have inherent benefits in understanding cultural nuances, navigating regulatory environments, and creating choices that resonate with Saudi customers’ particular preferences. They’ll adapt extra rapidly to shifting tastes, keep nearer connections with their buyer base, and leverage nationwide pleasure and help for domestically owned companies.

Occasions just like the Worldwide Espresso and Chocolate Exhibition will proceed to drive innovation and facilitate the data change needed for the market’s maturation. Past showcasing the most recent espresso and chocolate merchandise, the exhibition will host the Saudi Espresso Championship, a latte artwork competitors, and bean-to-bar chocolate contests that elevate business requirements and have fun craftsmanship. 

The exhibition can even host the Center East Espresso Convention, which options greater than 40 worldwide skilled audio system.

The occasion’s complete workshop programme covers subjects starting from sustainable sourcing practices and roasting science to chocolate tempering strategies and café enterprise administration, offering individuals with sensible expertise and skilled perception. Lectures from business leaders provide views on world traits, rising applied sciences, and finest practices that Saudi operators can adapt to their native contexts.

For worldwide corporations looking for to enter the Saudi market, the exhibition offers essential introductions to native companions and distributors, in addition to insights into client preferences and regulatory necessities. For Saudi entrepreneurs, it provides entry to world suppliers, publicity to worldwide high quality requirements, and inspiration from profitable fashions in different markets.

As consumption patterns mature and the nation’s Imaginative and prescient 2030 initiatives bear fruit, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself not solely as one of many world’s main coffee-consuming nations however as an rising origin, a hub for regional espresso commerce, and a centre of innovation the place historical espresso traditions meet cutting-edge café tradition.

The following few years promise to be transformative as these varied parts coalesce, creating alternatives for these positioned to grasp and serve this dynamic market.

Loved this? Then learn our information to espresso manufacturing in Saudi Arabia.

Picture credit: Worldwide Espresso and Chocolate Exhibition

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